1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector and to a connector assembly.
2. Field of the Invention
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,596 and FIG. 23(A) herein show a connector used in an automotive electric circuit. With reference to FIG. 23(A), the connector has male and female housings 1, 2 connected with each other. A lock arm 3 is formed on the female housing 2 and engages a locking groove 4 in the male housing 1 to hold the housings 1, 2 together. A slider 5 has a pressing portion 5a that moves into a deformation space 3a for the lock arm 3 to prevent deformation of the lock arm 3.
The slider 5 is pulled back to retract the pressing portion 5a from the deformation space 3a so that the housings 1, 2 can be separated for maintenance or other reason. The lock arm 3 then is deformed and disengaged automatically from the locking groove 4 and is guided by disengagement guiding surfaces 3b, 4a on the facing surfaces of the lock arm 3 and the locking groove 4. Thus, the connector has a so-called semi-locking construction.
The connector described above is designed to enable the two housings 1, 2 to be separated easily by pulling the slider 5 to improve a separating operability. However, this leads to a higher danger of inadvertently separating the connector in circumstances where the separating operation should not be performed (e.g. during power application to an electric circuit). Thus, there has been a demand for a countermeasure.
The invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to prevent housings from being inadvertently separated.